History
The Emory University Woman's Club was organized on January 18, 1919.At that time the Atlanta campus consisted ofonly a few buildings situated in open country, and the college was still located at Oxford. The purpose ofthe club, as outlined in the minutes of that first meeting, was to foster social interaction among the faculty and to provide service to the University. The means of accomplishing these goals may have changed over the years, but the original purpose has remained.
The major areas of activity, developed during our first ten years of operation, included sponsoring faculty parties, hosting University functions, providing help for students, forming groups in which members could explore special interests, helping with furnishings and landscaping for the campus's buildings and grounds, and contributing funds for special projects and campus development. In addition, forming contacts with the community has always been important.
From 1926 to 1929 meetings were held in a special room in the Theology Building. In March of 1929, the University provided the Community House on Haygood Drive for the Club's use. For the next 16 years, the Clubhouse gave members all the joys and cares of property ownership. When the shortage of space at Emory became acute after World War 11, the Club voted to return the Clubhouse to the University. Until 1979 the Club met in a variety of available spaces in the campus area.
Early in his administration, President James T. Laney offered the Club the challenge of supervising the renovation and decoration of the Houston Mill House to provide a faculty center and a meeting place for the Club. Utilizing capital outlay from the University and profits from a series of its own fundraising projects, the Club accomplished the refurbishing of the house and grounds, developed policy for use of the facility, and set up a non-profit corporation to run the house on a continuing basis. In September of 1979, the Houston Mill House opened for business.
When management of HMH reverted to Emory, EUWC became involved in other ways to support Emory through such projects as scholarship endowment, the purchase of library books, the establishment of a wildflower trail at Lullwater, the initiation of the Druid Hills Home and Garden Tour, and ser vice to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and Emory University Hospital.
In 1984, EUWC arranged with Emory for the establishment of a specifically named scholarship fond. Commencement 1987 marked the first presentation of the Emory University Woman's Club Memorial Graduate Research Award.
In 1998, the EUWC Rollins School of Public Health Scholarship and the EUWC Arts Scholarship endowments were created with gifts of$50,000 each to Emory Univer sity. Funding was provided from profits of the Club's own EMORY SEASONS: Entertaining Atlanta Style cookbook sales.
In 2005, Judi Shur, one of our new er members, decided to create a documentary film on the history of EUWC, featuring member inter views with several very long-time members. Judi produced the film titled Creating Change Within and it is an inspirational reminder that the members of EUWC have always worked to make the larger communi ty better.
The Club remains one of the few groups that brings people from all areas of the University community together and continues to experi ment with new ways to strengthen and expand this interaction. We are pleased to have the Houston Mill House as a meeting place and to play an important role in the University community and beyond.